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mus Manford called early Houston, whenhe was there, " . . a moral desert. Viceof every name and grade reigned triumphant,it was a hell on earth."Yet it is important to remember thatthese travelers were describing a very newtown, a frontier settlement that was admittedlystill rough and ready, but whoshould have expected otherwise? Bostonin 1836 was older than Houston is today,so it was unrealistic to compare the infanttown on the bayou to established easternor European cities. That lesson constantlyneeds teaching, as we shall see.And soon Houston did grow out of someof its worst habits. By 1850, MelindaRankin, in a book published in Bostoncould say that "The commercial facilities... are rapidly advancing the city ofHouston in wealth and importance.Every department of business is successfullypursued, and an uncommon degreeof enterprise and public spirit ismanifested by the citizens in advancingthe city in its general interest.""The society of Houston is refined andintelligent, and the religious and educationaladvantages are such as are calculatedto exert their salutary and moral

400'Block of Main Street, circa 1910, courtesyHouston Metropolitan Research Center, HoustonPublic Library.izing influence .... The people ofHouston are proverbial for their politenessand hospitality to strangers . . .public sentiment is as elevated as may befound in any other portion of the UnitedStates." That quintessential Yankee traveler,Frederick Law Olmsted, a few yearslater could almost agree with Mrs.Rankin, describing in his famous accountthe "many agreeable signs of the wealthaccummulated in homelike, retired residences,its large and good hotel, its wellsuppliedshops, and its shaded streets."But not all of the rougher edges weregone. Olmsted also noted "a most remarkablenumber of showy barrooms andgambling saloons . . . , while a posterannounced that 'the cock-pit is openevery night, and on Saturday night fivefights will come off for a stake of $100."'Olmsted also forcefully reminds us thatHouston was very much an Old Southcity. He describes a wounded, "downcast"runaway slave who was captured, andpresents a vivid portrait of a vile commercein human beings: "There is a

prominent slave-mart in town, whichholds a large lot of likely-looking negroes,awaiting purchasers. In the window ofshops, and on the doors and columns ofthe hotel, were many written advertisementsheaded 'A likely negro girl for sale.''Two negroes for sale.' 'Twenty negro boysfor sale,' etc." Some eleven years later, onJune 19, 1865, slavery ended in the LoneStar State.With growth came more stability andinstitutions, schools, churches, and operahouses, that lent respectability to a town.British traveler Sir Arthur James LyonFremantle visited Houston during theCivil War and found it, as he said, "amuch better place than I expected. Themain street can boast of many well-builtbrick and iron houses." A decade before,nearly all the buildings were frame, andthe transition to brick and iron both representedand enhanced the air of permanence.By the early 1870s Houstonianswere talking of dredging Buffalo Bayouinto a bona fide ship channel. HoraceGreeley, the New York newspapermanwho had once exhorted young men to goWest, in 1871 reported that Houston was"intent on so deepening and straighteningher bayou that any vessel that canpass the bar at Galveston may dischargeat her wharves, fifty miles inland. ...""It is a spirited enterprise," he wrote, "ingood hands, well backed, and its earlysuccess fully assured." The ship channelwas completed in 1914, forty-three yearslater.Greeley liked the can-do attitude hesaw in Houston, which he called a"smart, young, growing community." Ifthe city only "rejoiced in a few hills andledges," he added, "he would like it evenbetter." To which we can all say, "amen.""As she is," continued Greeley, "Houstonis one of the loveliest cities that ever rosefrom a level plain, and stands so highabove the Bayou that she may cleanse andkeep sweet if she only will." We can allagree with that. Houston has no SanFrancisco Bay or Rocky Mountains for abackdrop, but we can attempt, throughBayou beautification projects, the plantingof live oaks, and creation of parks,to make the best of what nature hasgiven us.17